King & Shaxson duo: Why ESG growth is 'still in its early days'

Slow but positive growth in sector, managers argue

The ramp-up in ESG fund launches is only set to increase exponentially over the next decade, according to King & Shaxson investment managers Craig Hart and Harry Thompson, to the point where any vehicles that do not adhere to a strict ESG screening process will be shunned by retail and institutional investors.

King & Shaxson, which this month celebrates the ten-year anniversary of its model portfolio service, is an ESG, impact, SRI and sustainable investment-only firm - a concept that may not seem unusual now, but was met with high levels of scepticism from the industry at launch.   "Ten years ago, if you were in ethical investing, you were seen as a massive outlier - a weirdo," Hart said. "Whereas now, this way of investing is completely mainstream. "Around eight years ago we had £3m under management across our portfolios and now we are at £48m, but a vast majority of this has happened ove...